The first day of the sixth month, morning, mid-morning hour.

On the west side of the city, a bustling market near the walls. Pu Xingui and Qian Dingzhong took seats in a teahouse, then were joined by Cao Jinlong, who had come in disguise.

Pu Xingui poured the tea.

“You heard about yesterday’s business, I take it?”

“If you mean the assassination attempt, I was near the academy at the time… running for my life in a panic…”

“Two experts—one went to the academy, one to the Princess’s residence, striking at the same time, and both still managed to get away clean. Brother Cao, you understand what level of skill that takes, to be that confident?”

“…The brothers I brought—not much confidence there.” Cao Jinlong shook his head. “If the plan were sound and the strike sudden, one might get away clean, but that Cloud-Swallowing Master had already tried to assassinate Li Pin at the Military Preparation Academy a few days before this, and after that, security was increased on both sides… it’s difficult. Does Brother Qian have any confidence?”

Among the three in the teahouse, Pu Xingui was at best from a prominent clan, having learned some martial arts merely for the sake of health, nothing worth mentioning in the martial world; the great hero Cao Jinlong was now respected on all sides, but his own martial skill wasn’t particularly outstanding either; the “Wenhou Sword” Qian Dingzhong, along with Xu Nanjiang, who had yet to arrive in Fuzhou, were the true muscle of this group. When Cao Jinlong asked, Qian Dingzhong slowly drank his tea, then slowly shook his head as well.

“…Only about fifty percent confidence. Honestly, with inside help, the odds might rise, but it would only suit a sudden strike—move like thunder, kill, and run. Not like Chen Shuangran, relying on that Cloud-Swallowing Master, striking twice already purely to test the waters… If Brother Xu comes, it’ll likely be the same story…”

Cao Jinlong and Pu Xingui fell silent for a moment, sipping their tea. Pu Xingui said, “Brother Cao, at the academy, do you think it was that Cloud-Swallowing Monk who struck?”

Cao Jinlong shook his head. “No.”

“The ‘Sea Tiger’ Niu Yunqiu?”

“Not him either,” Cao Jinlong shook his head again at the name, even laughing a little. “‘Sea Tiger’ Niu Yunqiu has built quite a reputation this past year, but I’ve known him a long time—he’s really just a bully who preys on the weak and fears the strong. He doesn’t have the nerve for this, nor the skill.”

“Which is to say, the little dark-skinned girl has at least one more expert under her, on par with that Cloud-Swallowing Master.” Pu Xingui frowned, pouring tea for the other two. “And on top of that, when this all happened, she also sent that ‘Iron Fist’ Ni Po to rough people up at the Flying Cloud Escort Agency… Where has she recruited so many experts from? Brother Cao, this past year, we haven’t exactly slacked off looking for men ourselves…”

“Brother Pu means…”

“Fujian isn’t so wide—the well-established families are only those few at the top… The promises from those above, both the Pu family and the Chen family have received. It doesn’t add up that they’d cast me aside to help only Chen Shuangran… The little dark-skinned girl must have someone outside with real backing…”

“Where would she have…”

“Brother Qian and I talked it over last night, and then made some inquiries. Privately, there are a few rumors going around—that during the time the Pu and Chen families were suffering their troubles, the little dark-skinned girl actually… fled to Jiangnan to escape the disaster.”

Having said this much, Pu Xingui took a sip of tea. Cao Jinlong thought it over.

“…Brother Pu means… the Equality Party has gotten involved.”

“I know the odds of that aren’t great. Last year He Wen went mad, throwing every faction into turmoil—the Equality Party’s various kings had their hands full just dealing with that, and even that notorious King Yama died almost as soon as trouble started. To this day, Jiangnan’s situation is still in pieces… but aside from that, I can’t think who else could possibly have summoned that Cloud-Swallowing Master to lend a hand to the little dark-skinned girl… She’s young, decent-looking but not exceptionally so, and she’s never trained in the pleasure houses, so it’s not as though she seduced this master with her body… This Cloud-Swallowing Master is famous far and wide, and at his level of skill, what sort of woman hasn’t he seen…”

“The Equality Party isn’t impossible…” Cao Jinlong thought for a while. “Last year’s chaos in Jiangnan came as a surprise even to King Yama and the Equality King—but He Wen alone was determined from the start to make his move. If we’re talking about who’s really scheming here… could it be him?”

“That would be rather frightening,” said Qian Dingzhong. “That Equality King picks fights recklessly—one against four, and all that. And even so, he’s still setting his sights on Fujian?”

“On one hand, you could call it planning ahead—for a man of his stature, keeping an idle move in play as he goes about his own business wouldn’t be strange… On the other hand, He Wen himself is something of a madman, not to be judged by ordinary reasoning… I’ve also heard before that this man bears deep hatred toward the Wu Dynasty. A couple of years back, when things went badly in Jiangnan and the Equality Party was struggling too, after the young Emperor fled to Fuzhou, several attempts were made to reach out to him, to try to make peace—every time, he flatly rejected them. If Chen Shuangran really has found her way to him… there are things he wouldn’t hesitate to do.”

The morning market bustled with noise and passersby, and the three men sipped their tea, speaking in low voices as they weighed the possibilities. After a while, Cao Jinlong asked, “Brother Pu, what exactly is it you’re thinking of doing?”

“I’m thinking that our view of things, up until now, has really been too narrow,” said Pu Xingui, holding his teacup and sighing. “In the past, relying on Fujian’s mountains and isolation from the rest of the world, we thought what we could see before us was all the great affairs of the world—but it turns out, beyond Fujian there’s Jiangnan, and beyond Jiangnan the Central Plains, this vast expanse of a world. We few tough men of Fujian, running into this Cloud-Swallowing Master from outside, only now realize we were frogs at the bottom of a well…”

“…The little dark-skinned girl got a step ahead of me, and she’s given me a good lesson too. Brother Cao, in the past I simply thought her mind was a bit off, occasionally coming up with strange ideas, and everyone’s own plans, this time, happened to align with hers well enough. But now that I know there’s someone else behind her, I’ll cooperate, yes, but I need to make a name for myself too, so this person can see that I’m the one worth backing…”

Cao Jinlong nodded. “Brother Pu also wants to reach out to whoever’s behind her?”

Pu Xingui smiled. “As long as he’s currently backing the little dark-skinned girl, that’s fine. To be able to produce a figure like the Cloud-Swallowing Master, this man must have real power, real ambitions. Whether the girl used some seductive scheme or something else, I don’t care—when great men act, it’s always to accomplish something. My Pu family has managed its affairs in Fujian for generations, with connections running deep throughout the region, and now I have Alliance Leader Cao’s support too. Rest assured, once I can get a word in with whoever’s behind him, I’m confident I can win him over to my side instead…”

“…And before that… we can’t keep our heads down and hold back any longer… We need to make our presence known…”

Over the past year or two, due to the court’s suppression, many great clans had collapsed—their members either fleeing to escape trouble or rising in open rebellion. That Pu Xingui and Chen Shuangran had become symbols of the resistance was not purely a matter of chance; simply bearing the crushing weight of being branded criminals by the court, hunted everywhere, was more than an ordinary person could endure.

Pu Xingui’s analysis, clear and logical, carried within it a certain air of taking sole command of the moment. Cao Jinlong and Qian Dingzhong listened closely, nodding now and then. After a while, an attendant came up from below and quietly informed Pu Xingui of something.

Cao Jinlong made to step aside, but Pu Xingui only laughed.

“Nothing important—it’s Yu Hezhang, come in a hurry, says he has something to discuss.” He laughed and told Cao Jinlong about the fight the day before at the Flying Cloud Escort Agency. “…The little dark-skinned girl, for safety’s sake, went ahead and struck without warning—Yu Hezhang and his men were caught off guard and lost a lot of face. It seems they can’t swallow that, and want to win it back. Alliance Leader Cao, look at it this way—this is both a bad thing and a good thing. If they hadn’t been left fuming over it, would they be so eager to act now? The men below want to prove themselves too—why worry that the great cause won’t succeed…”

Cao Jinlong laughed as well. “Master Pu manages his men well. I’m truly impressed.”

…

At that same hour, on the other side of the city, before the Grand Princess’s residence.

Huang Shengyuan stepped down from his carriage and saw a number of familiar faces already in the crowd.

Over the past two months, undercurrents had been stirring restlessly beneath the surface in Fuzhou—hardly a peaceful time—but on the official surface, what had drawn the most attention was this one great matter: the Emperor’s selection of a consort.

According to the rumors circulating outside, this round of consort selection would involve some three or four places, one of which had already been quietly promised to a high official at court; the remaining two or three would be chosen from outstanding individuals among the local gentry, merchants, artisans, and even commoner families across the region—though, in practice, word had already spread that “whoever offers the highest price wins.”

Of course, this so-called price didn’t refer only to money—it also included how much support each family could offer the imperial house.

During the two or three years the imperial house had resided in Fujian, it had made repeated efforts to win over the region’s upper and mid-tier gentry. This selection of a consort was an especially unusual bargaining chip, but among the very top tier of Fujian’s clans, few were actually taking part; those truly eager to compete were mostly mid-tier gentry and wealthy merchants scattered across Fujian—families with some local power and standing, but not yet deeply rooted, well-established clans. For them, this consort selection was undoubtedly a chance to rise in a single step.

Of course, if a daughter were truly chosen and entered the palace, such a family would, in effect, find itself bound to this imperial house whose future remained uncertain.

And under the banner of this consort selection, every great household made a grand show of entering Fuzhou—entire families making the arduous journey, bringing servants, hiring guards—and all manner of greenwood men also took the opportunity to gather. As one of the stewards of the Huang family of Putian, Huang Shengyuan could pick out at a glance, among the crowd, several local men of standing who had come purely for “the great cause”—carrying the banner of the consort selection while having brought along a group of skilled fighters, in reality meant to answer the call to chaos that bandit leaders like Chen Shuangran might raise.

Of course, since the official pretext was the consort selection, the banquet the Princess’s residence was holding for everyone was still something they had to attend.

As for the rest of the crowd, they held no real loyalty to the Wu Dynasty—if a daughter of their household were chosen as consort, that would mean rising in a single step, and if not, the men they’d brought might well become participants in whatever chaos followed.

Nearing noon, representatives from forty-three households, led by stewards of the Princess’s residence, filed one after another through the gates. Huang Shengyuan, feigning warmth, greeted people in the crowd he wasn’t particularly close to, while those he did know well, the two sides simply ignored each other. And though he held no loyalty at all toward the Wu imperial house, once through the gates of the Princess’s residence, Huang Shengyuan still felt a certain thrill of excitement.

In the crowd there were more than a few whose faces showed genuine, overwhelmed emotion, murmuring things like “what glory for our ancestors” and “may our forebears bless us.”

However it was looked at, the majesty of the imperial house had, for a long time, felt utterly remote to the mountain folk of Fuzhou; had it not been for the fall of Jiangnan, in their whole lives they would never have had any connection to the imperial family, let alone the chance to see, in person, the reigning Emperor’s own elder sister.

When Zhou Pei appeared, dressed in a stately long gown, the whole crowd dropped to their knees with a great rustling sound; even in the midst of the crowd, though he had rehearsed the motion several times beforehand, Huang Shengyuan still adjusted his kneeling posture carefully, suspecting he hadn’t quite gotten it perfectly correct.

His feelings were deeply mixed.

On one hand, there was already, deep down, a desire for rebellion—or at least a hope that this Wu imperial house would fall—but on the other hand, he genuinely felt intimidated by this majesty before him.

The Grand Princess appeared rather young at first glance, but her manner toward the crowd was gentle and fitting; after a simple ceremony of greeting, she had everyone rise and enter the great hall, where the banquet had already been prepared. Several court officials attended as well, and Zhou Pei gave a speech full of concerned, ingratiating words.

The court’s efforts to win over various factions had been going on for a long time now—some, foolishly, had already handed over their entire fortunes in earlier rounds, while others had lost everything in subsequent confrontations. By now, though dining alongside the Grand Princess still felt like an honor, in practical terms there was little real progress to be made; those who had come this time wanted power, wanted official rank—not one or two rounds of flattering words and empty promises. And through many past dealings, everyone already understood the court’s stance well enough: today’s Emperor, whatever happened, had no intention of casually handing power to the gentry.

Just another formality, then. Huang Shengyuan only hoped it would pass quickly.

Of course, hearing the Grand Princess above speak with that soft, Jiangnan-tinged gentleness, and seeing the graceful, dignified smile on her melon-seed face, Huang Shengyuan couldn’t help but let his thoughts wander a little.

Though past thirty, this Grand Princess—with her status, her power, and her means—remained widowed, and privately, among some of the great clans, people would sometimes joke that if one could latch onto her, given her lack of a man, that too would be no small path to rising in the world. In the past, Huang Shengyuan, along with others who had never seen the Grand Princess’s actual looks, would have scoffed at such talk—everyone here, they’d say, was a man with real ambitions, and who hadn’t seen a woman before? But having seen her today, he found himself thinking that, given the chance… he too, indeed, might just—

Before long, Zhou Pei finished her speech and took her seat at the table, and a moment later someone hurried in and whispered something to her. Zhou Pei rose again.

Huang Shengyuan sensed something was off.

After a while, the Emperor arrived.

…

Inside the hall, another wave of kneeling rippled through, dark as a field of bowed heads.

Once Jun Wu arrived, he exchanged a few words with Zhou Pei, then bid the kneeling crowd rise.

Following the arrangement decided upon beforehand, he raised his wine cup and began with a few playful remarks.

“…Today’s affair, honestly, I probably shouldn’t have come. To say it plainly, it doesn’t sound very dignified, makes me the Emperor seem… rather eager. Since my elder sister has gathered you all here originally to arrange a marriage for me, among you all, some might become my in-laws, and among you, perhaps one will become my brother-in-law. The matter isn’t yet settled, so for me to personally take part in something like this isn’t quite proper…”

“…But after much thought, I decided to come anyway. Because my own affairs are a small matter, while the affairs of the realm are the great one. All of you gathered here today are the backbone of our Wu Dynasty, and I wanted to meet you, to hear what you have to say, rather than wait until the marriage matter was settled and only then meet a few of you—that would be putting the trivial before the essential, a real mistake.”

“…There’s also another matter. These past days, my elder sister, out of concern for me, has taken charge of arranging this consort selection, but recently there’s been some noise about it—I imagine you’ve all heard some of it—some saying that what we’re doing here is selling official posts. As for why people would think this, I’ve looked into it myself…”

He paused here, and down among the seated crowd, more than a few faces changed color. This round of consort-taking had indeed been floated by the Princess’s residence with an eye toward transactions, and it was court officials who had gone out and negotiated certain terms with various parties. But the Emperor’s words here suggested something was clearly off.

“What all of you are asking for is, in fact, quite similar.”

Jun Wu’s gaze swept over the crowd as he spoke these words slowly, and after a pause, the smile remained on his face.

“You all want your children to receive hereditary office, want the chance to accomplish something in your own regions. To outsiders, this looks like selling official posts—but to me, this is a good thing. If you no longer had even these ambitions, then I truly wouldn’t know what to say to you at all.”

Jun Wu’s smile grew clearer.

“I’ve been thinking—what is it, truly, that’s on your minds? I’ve come to Fujian three years now, and in that time I’ve asked many people—officials, gentry, merchants, great scholars from every region—and I’ve come to realize that what’s on your minds is, in fact, all much the same… Fujian has many mountains, and the coast sees frequent typhoons; the harsh environment has made clans and local gentry rely on themselves for protection, and grow numerous as a result. What you all want, in the end, is simply for your clans to prosper, generation after generation, to live well—including, just these past few days, when my elder sister came into the palace and handed me this little notebook…”

Jun Wu reached into his robe and produced a small notebook, clearly recording the details of the negotiations between each household and the Princess’s residence. “What I’ve read here,” he said, “is, in fact, exactly this earnest hope, this heartfelt devotion of all of you.”

“Is this a bad thing? No—it’s a good thing. And it’s precisely because of this heartfelt devotion recorded here that I felt I had to come speak with everyone about this matter myself. Because one person’s marriage is a small matter—but what all of you are hoping for… that is the great matter.”

Here it comes…

Below at the banquet, Huang Shengyuan, who had until now been overawed by the imperial presence, narrowed his eyes slightly.

The direction of the conversation was off. Only now did he realize—this banquet today was likely not going to be a mere formality after all.

The young Emperor meant to break the deadlock.